Locomotive stoker



Feb. 10, 1931. A, B. FAHNESTOCK LOCOMOTIVE STOKER Original Filed Aug. 9, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 10, 1931. A. B. FAHNESTOCK LOCOMOTIVE STOKER a Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Aug. 9, 1926 9-5 Adv a ln w lmiiiii 0 i A. B. FAHNESTOCK LOCOMOTIVE STOKER Original Filed Aug. 9, 1926 Feb. 10, 1931.

3 Sheecs-Sheer. 3

Patented Feb. 10, 1931 UNITJED STATES-PATENT oer-101a:

ADAM is. rAHNEsrocx, or MANnAs'sE'r, NEW YORK, Assrci'non, BY MESNE AssIeN;

MENTS, are THE STANDARD sroxnacor/frANY me, or 'NEW'YORK,*N. Y., A com- PORATION OF DELAWARE LOCOMOTIVE STOKER The invention relates to locomotivestokers of the scatter feed type, which deliver the fuel to the fire box of the locomotive above the level of the fire bed on the grate,

over which bed it is spread by projecting of mine coal which is and scattering means.

A practicable stoker for locomotives must -be capable, of use in connection with run of a wide range as to size, from quite fine (particles up to lumps which operates the moving means.

too large to be passe through conveyin devices. These lumps must be reduced, an the entire mass conveyed in a necessarily tortuous path through conduits, Tvlzithin e reducin'g-and transferring operations have resulted in a loss in economy, in that the smaller particles of fuel have been reduced to an almost impalpable fineness due to the grinding action to which they have been subjected in the crushin' transferring devices an of masses'of fuel at elbows and the like in the conduits. The loss sustained is due to operation, by the stack, unconsumed, much of the finely comminuted fuel by the forced draft necessarily employed in locomotives. This loss is, of course, especially marked in stokers of the scatter feed type. 1

The object of the invention 1s to provide a simple, compact and direct acting mechanism for moving the fuel from the storage bin of the tender tothe fire door of the fire box of the locomotive without subjecting the already present fine material to a rinding action due to the redu tion of the arger lumps and by avoiding abrupt and cramped turns in the path thru which-it is conveyed. A further object is to provide for the location of the driving motor for the stoker mechanism upon the frame of close proximity to the stoking bythe mechanism may be-driven in a simple manner and without the loss of power y reason of tortuous connections.

' To this end, the invention consists in the parts and arrangement of parts as hereinafter described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which device, where.

by the impacting the carrying into the flues and out of the:

the tender, in

127,985. Renewed August 23, 1929.

Fig. 1 is a detail longitudinal, vertical, central section thru the motive and the forward end of the tender, the stoking mechanism beingtshown partly in elevation;

Fig. 2 is a-detail plan section on the line 2-2'of Fig. 1;,

Fig. 3 is a detail longitudinal, vertical section thru the forward part of the tender and the rearward portion of the stoker.

Fig. 4 is the side elevation of the rear portion of the stoking mechanism and the driving motor therefor, as applied to the tender, some parts being broken away. 7

Fig. 5 is a front view of the portion of the stoking mechanism carried by the tender; an

' Fig. 6 is a plan view of certain of the power transmitting gearing.

The fire box of the locomotive is represented at 10; the back-head thereofat 11; the grate at 12, and the hand firing door opening in the back-head at 13.

The fuel bin of the tender is indicated at 14, its floor eing composed at least in part of a plurality of channels, as 15, which exetend forwardly from its rearward end to within a short distance of its front. Within each of these channels, there travels the'upper turn of an endless sprocket chain 1 which is carried by sprocket wheels 18, 19, one of which is located forward of the end of the channel 15, and the other back of the rearward'end thereof and under the. slope sheet 20. Each of these chains is provided with a plurality of spurs as 21,'which pro.- ject upwardly from the upper turn ofthe chain into the mass of coal. One of the sprocket wheels, as 18, is fixed upona transfer shaft 22, provided [Witha ratchet wheel 28, with which cooperate pawls, as 24, carried by an oscillating casing 25, actuated by means of a link bar 26, carried by a swinging arm 27,and having a roller 28 which is engageable with the periphery of an eccentric 29 mounted on a shaft 30.

As the coal is. carried forward by chains 17, the larger lumps are delivered between the fixed and oscillating jaws 31, 32, pf a crusher, which reduce them to a proper size rear end of a, 1000- for firing and from which they drop into a hopper 33. The finer particles of coal which are carried forward by chains 17 pass thru a riddle formed of bars v16 which project backwardly from the fixed jaw 31 of the crusher, and enter the same hopper without experiencing the grinding action to which they would be subjected if mixed with the mass passing between the crusher jaws. A pair of inclined guide plates 34 insure the delivery of all of the fuel into the hopper.

From the forward end of the hopper 33 and rigidly secured thereto leads a transfer conduit 35 within which and the hopper is housed a transferring screw 36 which delivers the fuel to a nozzle 37 projecting into the firing dooropening 13, and occupying only a the lower portion thereof.

plate from which the The nozzle 37 is securely attached to the back-head 11 as shown in Fig. 2, and the conduit is connected with the nozzle by means ofa ball joint 38 within one member of which it is sleeved as indicated at 3'9. 7

The floor 40 of the nozzle 37 projects thru the opening 13 and constitutes a distributing fuel is projected into the fire box by means of steam jets issuing from a plurality of nipples 41, extending upwardly thru it and supplied with steam by means of a pipe 42 suitably connected with the steam chamber of the locomotive boiler.

To the under side of the hopper 33, there is attached a backwardly projecting arm 43,

- which is loosely pivoted upon a stud 44, car'- ried by :the frame of the tender. The conduit 35 is inclined upwardly toward its forward end and makes substantially a direct delivery from the hopper to the distributor plate 40, thereby avoiding any sharp turns or angles which would tend to cause the impacting of the fuel and to pulverize it to a fineness which results in an uneconomical operation. The described mounting, structure and connections of the hopper, conduit and delivery nozzle compensate for any relative movements of the locomotive and tender due to unevenness and curvature of the railway track.

The mechanism as described is driven by a motor, conventionally shown at 45, mounted on the frame of the tender and adjacent to its forward end. This motor may be ofany desired type, a rotating motor being preferable because occupying but little space. Preference is expressed for the well known Dake motor which while developing .adequate 'power is very simple and compact. The shaft 46 of the motor carries a worm 47 meshing with a worm wheel 48 fixed upon a suitably journaled shaft 49. The shaft 49 is connected by a universal joint 50 with a shaft 51 journaled in a bracket 52, mounted on the frame of the tender, the shaft carrying at its forward end a bevel gear 53 meshing with a similar gear 53 mounted on a transverse shaft 54. A bevel gear 55 on the shaft 54 meshes with a bevel gear 56 fixed upon a shaft 57 journaled in a bracket '58 carried by the tender frame and connected at its forward end by means of a universal joint 59 with the gear end of the shaft of the conveyor screw 6.

A pinion 60, mounted on the shaft 54, meshes with a gear 61 mounted on the shaft 30. The latter shaft is provided with a crank arm 62, connected by means of a pitman 63 with a crank arm 64, fixed upon the shaft 65, which carries the movable crusher jaw 32. the relative lengths of the crank arms 62 and 64 being such that a complete revolution of the shaft 30, causes the desired range of oscillation of the jaw.

The rate of fuel varying the length of the advancing steps of the chalns 17. For this purpose the casing 25, which carries the pawls 24, is provided with an outwardly projecting arm 66, which on the downward movement of the link 26 by gravity, and the consequent backward movement of the pawls 24, encounters an adjustable limiting stop 67. This stopis in the form of a sliding bar carried by a bracket 68 and connected by a'link 69 with a crank arm 70 fixed upon a vertical haft 71 extending upwardly .through the floor of the tender and carrying at its upper holding means conventionally shown at 73 being provided for retaining the shaft and stop bar 67 in 66 is downwardly curved, and, with the stop bar 67 in the position shown in Fig. 4, will arrest the downward movement of the link 26 shortly after the swell of the eccentric 29 has passed beyond the roller 28, with the result that the next upward stroke of thislink and consequentlythe advance movement of the pawls 24 is shortened. By withdrawing the stop bar 67 to its extreme limit, the outer end of the arm 66 will not come in contact with it until the lower end of the link 26 shall have descended suificiently to be engaged by the eccentric at its shortest radius, under which circumstances, the chains will be advanced by steps of maximum length, and consequently the rate of delivery of the fuel will be correspondingly increased.

The various transverse shafts are carried by a pair of plates 74, 75, which at ward ends rest upon the frame of the tender and at their forward ends are carried by the brackets 52, only one of which is plainly.

shown. m

The stoker as thus organized, while being of a high degree of efiiciency,

struction and requires for 1ts operation but feed may be varied by.

end a hand crank 72, suitable.

adjusted positions. The arm is simple of con- V their rearlittle power. Its various elements are so revided a firing opening therein 4:5v

line from said hopper to said plate, and means 'for distributing said fuel over the grates of said fire box.

2. In combination with a locomotive provided with a firebox having a backwall with a firing opening therein and a tender for said locomotive having a bin for the storage of fuel, conveying means on said tender for forwardly advancing the fuel, a distributor a transfer conduit extending from a point directly beneath the forward end of said conveymg means upwardly and forwardly to said i distributor plate, the lower end of said transfer conduit being flexibly mounted' and its upper end universally connected to the backwall of said firebox, said conduit being in communication at its lower portion with the conveying means and at its ing in communication with said ring openmg, the conveying means and said conduit bemg so related that the fuel drops by gravity directly from the conveyin means to the conduit, transferring means within said conduit for moving the fuel therethrough upwardly and forwardly in a substantially straight course to said distributor plate, and means for distributing fuel over the fire. In combination witha locomotive with a firebox having a baekwall with and a tender for said locomotive having a bin for the storage fuel, conveying means on said tender in said firing opening of the locomotive, an inclined transfer conduit extending from a point immediately beneath the forward end of said conveying means upwardl and forwardly to said distributor, a helical screw in said conduit, .said transfer conduit and forward "direction eing in communication 'at its lower portion Y with said conveying means and at its upper.

said firing end of itself opening directly into opening, the adjacent ends of the conveyin means and transfer conduit so related that the fuel is fed from the conveying means to proa vsubstantially straight course through said conduit tothe distributor, the adjacent ends of the conveying means,and the screw within the transfer conduit being free from universal connections within the path of the course of flow of the fuel.

4. In combination with a locomotive provided with a firebox having a firing opening in its backw'all and a tender behind the 1000- motive provided with a fuel bin, a stoker including a distributor at the firing opening, a

conveyor communicating with the bin and delivering fuel loosely at a point below the firing opening, and an upwardly inclined screw conveyor receiving the fuel in loose form from the first conveyor and conveying it substantially straight from the point of reception into the firing opening and delivering it endwise from its forward end toward the distributor, the passage for the fuel between the conveyors permitting unrestricted flow offuel. plate in said firing opening of the locomotive,

In testimon whereof I affix my signature. AM B. FAHNESTOCK.

upper ortion beri fuel, a fuel dishelical screw 

